County double-checking Parks and Rec candidates

After conducting interviews with applicants for the new Director of Parks and Recreation position, Dorchester County is looking through the pile of rejected applicants one more time.

The job posting drew around 50 applicants, which were then sorted by qualifications into groupings for further evaluation. The county uses a pre-screening process to weed out unqualified applicants, but according to County Administrator Jason Ward, this set of criteria turned up an unusually high number of non-referrals.

He explained, “One screening question in particular was ‘Do you have a four-year degree in recreation, parks management, physical education or a related field?’ For example, one person was a history major, which was fine because that person had experience in the field, however if he had answered ‘no’ to that question we never would have interviewed him.”

He called the high number a “red flag” and said to avoid overlooking any qualified candidates the entire group will be double-checked.

So far, eight candidates have been interviewed. The interviewing team included Ward, Parks and Recreation Commission members and commission chairman County Councilman Jay Byars.

Ward said of the interviewed, they found three applicants to be qualified for the position. After reexamining the non-referred applicants and taking a second-look at “maybe” candidates, the overall hope is to identify five people and then do a second round of interviews.

He did not have an estimated timeline for completing the hiring process.

The Director of Parks and Recreation will be responsible for managing Dorchester County parks, working with the Parks and Recreation Commission, staying up-to-date on environmental policy changes and interacting with the public.

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